David de Gea as become as influential for Manchester United as Wayne Rooney
and Robin van Persie according to manager David Moyes

David Moyes claims David de Gea has become as big a match-winner for Manchester United as Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie after hailing the goalkeeper’s transformation from callow rookie to commanding number one this season.

De Gea, an £18.3m signing from Atletico Madrid as successor to Edwin van der Sar in the summer of 2011, will face Norwich City at Carrow Road on Saturday as the only ever-present of Moyes’s first campaign as manager.

Despite a troubled start to his United career, with high-profile errors forcing Sir Alex Ferguson to search for an experienced replacement 12 months ago, the Spaniard underlined his improvement and growing maturity with a dominant display during the 3-2 victory at Hull on Boxing Day.

An injury-time save from Hull defender James Chester ensured United emerged from the KC Stadium with three points rather than one and, with Rooney and Van Persie largely securing the headlines with their goalscoring feats, Moyes insists that De Gea is now proving as crucial as his more celebrated team-mates.

“Wayne and Robin score big goals and win games for us but David has won us big points as well,” Moyes said. “His save at Sunderland earlier this season comes to mind and he did it again at Hull. He made some good saves for us.

“The defenders have always trusted David because they knew the potential for him to get better was there.

“But they are now beginning to see somebody who is doing well for them and winning them points.”

An injury-time mistake at Tottenham last January, which led to Tottenham scoring a late equaliser, proved a turning point for De Gea, with Ferguson and his coaches opting to keep faith with the youngster and postpone the recruitment of a replacement until the summer.

But by that stage, De Gea’s upturn in form had eradicated the need for a new goalkeeper prior to the announcement of Ferguson’s retirement.

And although Moyes arrived with an open mind on De Gea, having operated with more experienced goalkeepers at Everton, the manager admits the goalkeeper is now justifying the faith shown in him by Ferguson.

“He was always going to get better,” Moyes said. “His age, when he came, meant he had a lot of experience to gain.

“One of the hardest things to do is put a young goalkeeper in and he made a few mistakes, but Sir Alex stuck with him.

“Sir Alex brought him and took him out from time to time, but he really trusted him and believed in him and we are seeing the fruits of that.

“I think people looked at it (targeting him) but it’s not quite as obvious now because he is coming and taking crosses and being brave. He is punching well too.

“We want him to do that. He is doing well, but he is now turning into a man, getting stronger and looking at the top of his game.

“He is getting used to the Premier League and understanding what he has to do.

“I look around and he is one of five or six young players in the team who are going to be part of the next five or six years and that means he can only get better.”

United travel to Norwich today aiming to extend a run of five successive victories in all competitions.

Moyes could be boosted by the return of Van Persie, who has an outside chance of making the squad after missing the last four games with a thigh injury.

United are without the injured Rafael (hamstring) and Phil Jones (knee), with Antonio Valencia suspended, so Chris Smalling is set to move to right back, with Nemanja Vidic returning at centre half.

With United moving to within eight points of leaders Arsenal during their recent winning run, Smalling insists the club can still challenge for the title.

“We are starting to get on a good run and if people are starting to look over their shoulders, then we are doing a good job,” Smalling said.

"It's about keeping this momentum going. Right now we're in a rich vein of form and need to recover from Hull and then go to Norwich."

“It's one of those seasons where there are going to be a few ups and downs and some teams have yet to have their downs.

"We have had our blip and we have to make sure we don't have another because we can't really afford any more."